


Between The Living and From The Heart

by wintershelter



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, past abuse and trauma, somebody give these two a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-07-22
Packaged: 2018-12-05 12:40:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11578266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wintershelter/pseuds/wintershelter
Summary: Len breaks his wrist shortly after the events of 1x10. Mick and Len have a long overdue conversation.Wherein, Mick and Len actually talk about what happened on Chronos' ship.





	Between The Living and From The Heart

Mick heard the sickening crunch and the scream that followed. He whipped his head around, feet already moving towards the noise.

Len was on the floor, curled in on himself with some foe towering over him. Mick saw him pull his boot off of Len’s mangled wrist and he saw red.

The man didn’t even hear him coming as Mick barreled behind the man and cracked him across his skull. He dropped to the floor, out cold from that one hit.

Len squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He was breathing heavy through his nose. Mick recognized his technique of breathing through the pain. Before Mick could offer more assistance, he heard footsteps approach him rapidly.

Mick whirled around just in time to see Blondie approaching them.

“I’ll cover you. Get him out of here.” Sara commanded, swinging her staff at another attacker.

With Sara dealing with that, Mick turned back to Len and lowered down into a crouch.

“Can you get up?” Mick asked.

Len didn’t respond or act like he even heard Mick for that matter. Mick did a once over of Len. He didn’t look hurt anywhere else, but maybe he had hit his head. He didn’t have any visible hits on his face but concussions were tricky sometimes.

“Snart? Hey, can you open your eyes for me?” Mick tried for a simpler command.

Len opened his eyes up, but made no further movement. Mick looked into Len’s eyes are noticed that while they looked pained, his pupils were normal size, ruling out a concussion. Len looked coherent enough as well so Mick asked him another question.

“Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“N-n-no.” Len clipped out.

Mick felt a shudder of panic flit through him. Len didn’t stutter from pain. He’d seen the man take a bullet to his shoulder at close range and there’d barely been a hitch in his breath, or his bitching. No, the stuttering only came out when something was really wrong.

“Let’s get you to Medbay.” Mick said, calmly.

The fight seemed to be winding down anyway and at this point Len would be of no help. The team could do without them.

Len gave him nod, lips pinched in a tight line. Mick reached out his hand to help lever him up to standing and Len… flinched?

Wait, no, that wasn’t right. Mick had been away from Len for a while but the man had never flinched away from his touch. Not before the Time Masters and not after when Mick had helped soothe the bruises he’d inflicted after their fight.

Mick knew they weren’t back to the way it was before, but this… This was something else entirely.

Mick pulled his hands back and looked at Len again. His eyes were open but they were looking at his mangled wrist.

“Lenny?” Mick said, as softly as he could manage.

Len looked up at the use of his nickname. Whatever had rattled Len seemed to dissipate a bit. His eyes looked more focused and his voice was stronger as he spoke.

 “I’m fine, Mick. Just help me up.”

Mick nodded and very slowly moved his hands to Len. He didn’t flinch this time and Mick breathed an internal sigh of relief. Mick gripped his uninjured arm and helped get him to his feet.

“Thanks.” Len offered him a half smile as he allowed Mick to help him.

Even with Blondie at their side, Mick focused on covering Len as they made their way to the Waverider.

“I got him.” Mick said, waving Sara off as they made it to the cargo bay.

She nodded, darting out to jump back into the fray.

“Gideon,” Mick shouted as they made their way into the Medbay, “A little help.”

“Of course. According to my scans Mr. Snart requires immediate.” Gideon said, stating the obvious.

“Then get on with it,” Mick growled.

Mick helped sit Len down in the chair. Len gingerly set his wrist down on the table.

“Can you fix me now?” Len asked, but it was more of a command than a question.

“Certainly. Hold completely still while I mend the bone.”

Mick watched as Gideon directed that soft laser blue light over Len’s limb. The broken bone was visible but Mick could clearly see when the limb righted itself. Len’s face visibly relaxed a little when it fully healed.

“Is Snart okay now?” Mick said, addressing the A.I. as he watched Len with careful attention.

“Aside from a slightly elevated heart-rate, Mr. Snart is perfectly healthy.”

Mick grunted and watched as Len continued to examine his hand. He flexed his fingers and rolled his wrist a few times. He hadn’t taken his eyes off his hand since Gideon started working on it. It was starting to unnerve Mick a little bit because he could still see that something was wrong.

“Are you okay?” Mick asked.

“Peachy.” Len replied.

Absolutely convincing.

Mick exhaled. Len was the talker, not Mick, but it seemed like Len wasn’t going to without some further prodding.

“What happened out there?” Mick asked.

Len lifted his gaze to meet Mick’s eyes. “Some guy got the drop on me and I got a boot to the wrist.”

Mick recognized the deflection but he couldn’t let this go, even if Len wanted him to. “I’m not talking about then. I’m talking about… after that.”

Mick saw as Len’s gaze turned to steel. “It’s fine.” He gritted out through clenched molars.

“No, it’s not. You were are sorts of shaken up.”

“Mick-” Len started, irritation cutting through his tone, but Mick wasn’t done.

“You flinched. I touched you and you flinched.” Mick’s voice almost cracked at the omission because Len only flinched around people who startled him or people he didn’t trust. “Look, I get if you don’t trust me after everything that happened but just tell it to me straight.”

Len’s face softened at that. “It’s not- I just got caught up in some bad memories.”

“Of what?” Mick asked, afraid of the answer but still needing to know.

Len shrugged. “The last time I broke my hand.”

Mick thought… and thought. The last time Len had broken his hand was in a bar fight back in Central a few months before they’d stepped foot onto the Waverider. Unless the night had taken a drastic turn after what he remembered, Mick was drawing a blank. Len had told him he had only been gone for a little over a week as Chronos, so maybe something had happened in that stretch of time that Len hadn’t yet told him about.

“What time are you talking about?” Mick asked, confusion genuine on his face.

Len returned Mick’s confused look in kind. “When you kidnapped me as Chronos.”

Mick blinked because that was not the response he was expecting. “I didn’t touch you aside from knocking you out and cuffing you.”

Len’s lips worked wordless for a moment. “Do you remember me storming into Nanda Parbat after you?”

“Yeah. You told them not to kill me and-” Mick stopped because his brain just then caught up with what Len had been hinting at. He had been so caught up in his rage and his revenge that he hadn’t truly thought about what had happened and just how Len had gotten himself free. Mick asked with trepidation, “How did you escape?”

Len become shifty eyed and Mick’s stomach dropped knowing he wasn’t going to like the answer. “You left my cold gun within reach.”

“Those cuffs are heat and cold resistant.” Mick explained.

Len nodded. “I know, but skin isn’t.”

Mick stared at Len in abject horror, eyes flicking to Len’s hand then to his face and back again as he tried desperately to remember that night. Mick was no stranger to pain. He’d been tortured and reborn countless times. Hell, he’d done worse to himself under the Time Master’s instructions but this… This was Len. This was Len he was talking about and that made it so wrong.

“You-” Mick began but the words quickly got extinguished in his throat.

Len shrugged again, like he could just fucking shrug that off. “Yeah. My hand is fine, now, obviously. Gideon saw to that.”

Another thought came to him as he watched Len’s hand. “Did you know?”

“Know what?”

“That Gideon could fix it.” Mick lifted his gaze to meet Len’s eyes, voice all but whispering as he asked, “Did you know?”

Mick’s stomach was already in knots by the idea of Len doing that even if he knew he’d be okay, but if Len hadn’t known there was a procedure to remake his hand and yet he still did it anyway… Mick didn’t know what he’d do if it were that.

Len’s expression became tight again. He didn’t drop his eyes and his voice was unwavering when he replied, “No. And I’d do it again.”

Mick inhaled a sharp breath. “Christ, Lenny.” Mick felt his stomach churn, the urge to be sick was becoming a very real possibility.

“If it was a matter of saving you or Lisa, I’d do it again, without a thought.”

Mick was still in shock at Len’s absolute conviction when he realized just what hand Len was favoring. The hand that had triggered this whole episode…

“It was your right hand.”

It wasn’t a question but Len gave him a stiff nod anyway.

Mick huffed a bitter laugh. “Your gun hand. God, Lenny…”

Mick placed the back of his hand to his mouth and had to physically turn away. He curled in on himself a little, fighting the bile rising in his throat because he had done this. He had made Leonard feel that there was no choice but to shatter his own hand off. He had threatened Lisa. He had made Len feel that the only way to protect her from Mick was to amputate his own hand. His fucking gun hand.

“It’s fine, Mick.” Len repeated.

Mick felt a tentative hand his shoulder. The touch was meant to be comforting but it just brought another wave of guilt over him. He whirled around spinning to face Len.

“No, it’s not fine. You- Fuck, Len, you-” Mick broke off with a sharp inhale. “I’m so sorry.”

Len reared back because Mick _didn’t_ do apologizes, not in as many words. He usually said sorry in his actions, by making Len an elaborate dinner or giving his motorcycle a new upgrade, so for him to actually say the words threw Len for a loop.

“Why?” Len asked, eyebrows crinkling slightly.

Mick huffed out a bitter laugh. “For kidnapping you. For making you feel as if you had no choice but to shatter your own hand to save Lisa. I’d never hurt her, Len, I swear.”

Len took a step forward, murmuring. “I know. I know.” 

“But you didn’t. And I knew exactly what to say to make you feel helpless.” Mick paled as he came to a sickening realization. “I used Lisa against you, just like Lewis did… I became Lewis and you- That’s why you flinched. You were scared of me.”

“Mick, that’s not-” Len said, reaching a hand out to try and stop Mick’s tirade.

Mick eluded Len’s grip, breath rattling in his ears as he continued, “That’s it, isn’t? I scared you. I did that.”

Len swore quietly as he noticed Mick’s increasing distress but Mick couldn’t focus on that. All he could focus on was the roiling of his stomach because he’d never been as revolted with himself as he’d been right now. He had become Len’s worst fear. He had turned in the monster he always had the potential to be. He’d scared the most important person in his world and that was just wrong on so many levels.

Mick’s eyes darted wildly around the room. He just managed to fall to his knees in front of the trash bin in the corner before he gave into the urge to be sick.

A cool hand settled between his shoulder blades, rubbing small circles as Mick vomited. Mick gave a shiver as the heaving finally subsided. He spat out a mouthful of saliva before dropping back to his heels. He waited for Len to move his hand away or strangle him or hit him. He deserved it and then some.

Mick had known he had crossed a line with using Lisa against Len. He’d never really had good impulse control and when that paired with the Time Masters manipulations and his anger at Len, all he cared about was making him _hurt_. Mick had spent a lot of his life watching Len abandon him, as if the years between them meant nothing and Len could discard him whenever he deemed necessary.

For just once, he had wanted Len to feel just as blindsided as Mick did whenever Len had left him. He had wanted him to feel that hurt too.

Mick had just forgotten one little thing.

He’d forgotten how his resolve always crumbled in the face of a hurting Len and he had hurt Len bad this time. He hadn’t even realized the implications of how until now.

As quiet as a cat Len came into Mick’s sight-line. “Mick, you are not like Lewis.”

Mick shut his eyes and shook his head vigorously. “I am though.”

“Do you think Lewis would be upset over hurting me? You’ve met my old man. He never showed a lick of remorse for what he did to me or Lisa.”

“Doesn’t matter. I did what he did. I hurt you. I said I’d kill Lisa.”

“Mick.” Len coaxed. “Mick, look at me.”

Mick did and Mick didn’t even realize his eyes had watered up until he tried to focus on Len’s slightly blurry face.

“I know you wouldn’t. I saw it on your face when you had me pinned down in your cell. Given the chance and the reason to kill me and you still couldn’t. All that you said, all that you did… it’s forgiven, okay?”

“Lenny, you can’t just forgive me.”

“Tough. I can and I will.” Len said, stroking Mick’s cheek with his thumb. “What you did, you did when you were brainwashed and hurting.”

“That doesn’t make what I did any better.” Mick said.

“What about what I did then? I abandoned and left you for the Time Bastards to find. I’m as much to blame as you are.”

Len wasn’t wrong. Mick was pissed and would probably always be a little pissed about it but he couldn’t find it in him to hold it against him now. “You still didn’t deserve what I did.”

“Still didn't..." Len repeated incredulously. "Mick, you didn’t deserve what I did to you... what the Time Bastards did to you.” Mick knew his look was less than convincing when Len continued with a little heat, “You didn’t." Len sighed as he took a moment to collect himself. "Look, we could go on and on about this forever, but frankly, I'm too fucking tired. Let’s bury the hatchet once and for all. Please?”

Mick could never refuse Len when he asked. He gave him a small nod.

Len smiled, cradling both of Mick's cheeks in his hands. “Good.”

Mick laid his hands over Len’s, taking in the feel of Len’s skin against his own.

Len pressed his lips to Mick’s brow before resting his own forehead against Mick’s. “Now, I’d very much like to kiss you, but your breath reeks.”

Mick let out a low chuckle as Len stood up offering out a hand to Mick. “Let’s get you cleaned up, big guy.”

Mick looked at Len’s hand. _The_ hand. His gun hand. The hand that he had frozen off because of him.

Mick looked up to see Len’s quirked eyebrow and a lazily smirk on his face.

Mick took a breath and grabbed it.

**Author's Note:**

> I really, really wish the show didn't just gloss over Mick and Len's reconciliation arc. I get these guys don't do touchy-feely but it would've been nice to see some conversation about their falling out and how they went from avoiding each other post 1x10 to talking in code and glued to the other's side again 1x13.


End file.
